Resolve Objections With Points of Agreement to Increase Sales Performance
If you look at any negotiation process, there’s a lot of wording out there about battling an objection. Now I’ve watched a lot of high-level negotiators in my life. But I’ve never seen high-level lawyers or high-performing salespeople battle.
When Eric Sudol was negotiating the naming rights for AT&T Stadium, I didn’t see him necessarily battling it out with AT&T. Even when watching the Cleveland Browns come up with a beer deal for FirstEnergy Stadium with Anheuser-Busch, I never saw them battling with the beer giant. Of course, there definitely is a lot of positioning that goes on. But it’s not a battle, because if we’re trying to ultimately do business with someone for a long period of time, battling doesn’t do anybody justice.
Our job as a member of a high-performing sales team when dealing with objections is to find points of agreement. This is because we’re trying to overcome a preoccupation of someone being indecisive. That means we need to create a compelling reason or story to move ahead. And if there’s not a compelling reason to move ahead, nobody wins.
Bottom line: We don’t deal with objections; we deal with people. And we don’t battle objections, we find points of agreement and resolve them.
Watch Eric Sudol’s full interview on Lance Tyson’s Against the Sales Odds series here and get additional ideas on sales leadership and tips to enhance your sales career.
